Blood Runs Thicker
by Deledia
Summary: Fornell discovers that Tony has four cousins who are witnesses and/or suspects in countless unsolved cases. He asks Gibbs to look into the cases using his connection to Tony. What will Gibbs do when he discovers the Charmed Ones and Tony's secret?


**Blood Runs Thicker **

Chapter One

FBI Special Agent Tobias Fornell stopped his car in front of the Alexandria town house and forced himself to get out. In his hand was a case file which had fallen into his lap today. Tobias had caught the case because, in the FBI, he was acknowledged as the so-called 'Gibbs special handler.' The former marine had a fearsome reputation across all branches of law enforcement and few people wished to deal with him at the best of times. They sure as hell didn't want to deal with him for a case like this, which was why the case had gone to Tobias. The problem was that _Tobias _didn't want to have to deal with Gibbs because of this either. Their friendship had survived Tobias marrying, having a child with and then divorcing Gibbs' ex-wife. The FBI agent had a terrible feeling things were going to come to blows over _this _though.

There were no lights on in the house but Tobias knew that, at this time of night, Gibbs would be wide awake working on one project or another down in the basement. Finding the door unlocked, as usual, Tobias rolled his eyes. Gibbs had an impressive list of enemies and, as he was so lax about security, more than once Tobias had wondered whether he was going to drop by one night and find his old friend had been murdered. "You know you should probably think about putting a lock on the door one of these days," Tobias called as he walked right in, even though he knew he would be ignored.

Hearing his friend coming down the stairs Gibbs shrugged, unconcerned. "Bourbon?"

Tobias shook his head. "You might need it when you hear what I have to say, though."

Gibbs' gut clenched. He'd never known Tobias to exaggerate so he knew this wasn't going to be good. "What's happened?"

"Got a case today," Tobias said. "Or, rather, a series of cases."

Gibbs knew that Tobias was the FBI's NCIS liaison so the fact that Tobias had come to see him meant that NCIS was somehow involved in the cases he'd been assigned. The fact that Tobias was here after hours, though meant that, at least at the moment, this business was off the record and that there was something untoward going on. "Tell me the rest," he ordered.

"More than a dozen unsolved murders or disappearances," Tobias said. "All over the US but mostly in the San Francisco area. At least one of three sisters a witness in every case."

"Don't believe in coincidences," Gibbs said. "So the sisters have to be involved somehow."

"Probably," Tobias nodded. "And here's the kicker. The oldest sister dies in mysterious circumstances, with both younger sisters and one of their husbands present. Then, less than a couple of weeks after the funeral the surviving sisters produce another girl they claim is their half-sister. The supposed half-sister was adopted by a childless couple after being abandoned on a church steps as a newborn baby. No idea if she actually is a member of that messed up family but since then she's been a witness in as many cases as her so-called sisters. She's a social worker in San Francisco, though which means that her DNA and fingerprints are on record. She's been ruled out as anything other than a witness in every case because of that. Don't know about the so-called sisters, though."

"There's definitely something going on there," Gibbs said, frowning. "But what does this have to do with NCIS?"

Tobias winced, knowing that this was where things were going to get bad. "Not sure about the so-called half-sister but the three older ones, they're DiNozzo's cousins. Their grandmother, Penelope Johnson, married Allen Halliwell and had two daughters, Pamela - DiNozzo's mother - and Patricia, mother of the sisters."

Gibbs tensed. Nothing put him on the defensive like threats to his longtime friend and SFA. "Where are you going with this, Tobias?"

Tobias looked at Gibbs sympathetically, hoping that they would all survive the shit storm that was about to be unleased. "Jethro, you know as well as I do that there's no way those four girls would never have flown under the radar of law enforcement for so long without having someone helping them on the inside."

Gibbs was on his feet in a second, his fists clenched. "Wonderful," he said coldly. "Just bloody wonderful. So now you're accusing DiNozzo of aiding and abetting possible serial killers. Tell me Tobias, is it the entire FBI that has a conspiracy against DiNozzo or is it just you and your moronic team?"

Tobias sighed. Realistically he'd known all along that this was how things were going to go but deep down he'd been hoping that Gibbs would take it better than this. "There's no conspiracy, Jethro but even you have to admit that this doesn't look good for your boy."

"I have to admit no such thing," Gibbs sneered. "Tell me, how many times have you and your _boys _accused DiNozzo of murder now? And how many times have you and your _boys _come off looking like asses when DiNozzo's proven to have been nowhere near the scene of the crime?"

"That's true," Tobias admitted. "And that's the main reason why I can't say for sure whether or not I think DiNozzo's guilty. Others, though have no such qualms about thinking that DiNozzo's in up to his eyeballs. I can probably hold them off for a while but there's _going _to be an investigation."

"Not if I can help it," Gibbs snarled, determined to get to the bottom of this before the FBI stuck their grubby noses in where they weren't wanted.

"Good," Tobias nodded, having come here tonight hoping that Gibbs would say that. "It'll be best for everyone if you have a plausible explanation by the time my team come calling."

"You bet I will," Gibbs snapped, not even considering for a single second that DiNozzo was guilty of any crime. He would figure out who was framing his SFA this time and make them wish that they'd never been born. "Although I have to say it's getting a bit old doing the FBI's job for them."

"You know it's not like that, Jethro," Tobias said, the expression on his old friend's face reminding him of the one Gibbs had worn when he'd found out Tobias and Diane were getting married.

"Yeah right," Gibbs said, snorting disdainfully. "And it'll be best for everyone, as you put it, if you leave your precious Agent Slacks at home when you visit NCIS because there's no way he'll keep his smart mouth shut and I doubt I'll be able to stop DiNozzo from shooting him when he's proven innocent _again._"

"I'll think about it," Tobias hedged, seeing Gibbs' point but doubting he'd be able to get away with leaving his SFA out of a high profile investigation.

"So, tell me do these so-called cousins of DiNozzo's have names?" Gibbs demanded.

"Halliwell," Tobias told him. "Paige Matthews is the half-sister and the three older ones are Prudence, Piper and Phoebe Halliwell."


End file.
